Helpful Hints on How to Clean & Organize a Kitchen

The first thing you need to remember when it comes to spring cleaning is that you’re probably not going to get all of your spring cleaning done in one weekend – or two for that matter. It will be far less overwhelming and less stressful if you tackle your spring cleaning one room at a time. Before your first spring cleaning weekend approaches, you’ll want to get some critical supplies, so we’ve put together this easy-to-use spring cleaning checklist:

Exciting & inspirational music

Easy to prepare meals for you and your helpers

Old cleaning clothes (with pockets)

Plenty of trash bags for sorting and throwing away

Boxes to store dishes, food while cleaning

Cleaning supplies

A lemon or lime

Ice

Kitchen brushes

Cooler & ice (to hold fridge items when cleaning kitchen begins)

Lots of laundry detergent

If the kids aren’t old enough to help, a good babysitter

Spring Cleaning Checklist – Cleaning a Kitchen
Before you begin spring cleaning the kitchen, you’ll want to remove everything off the counters, empty the shelves and clear out the refrigerator and freezer. Now is a good time to inspect all of your major appliances for normal wear and tear. Pull the refrigerator out so you can vacuum underneath it or, if you can’t move your fridge, then pull out a Vacuum Wand that has clog proof suction slots on the front and bottom and a magnet to clean up any unwanted metal materials. If you can reach your refrigerator coils, now is a good time to clean them; clean out your drain pan and check your water filter to make sure it’s still good to go. If you have a freezer, clean it out, unplug it and let it defrost. Pull out all of your food, put it in your cooler (with ice, of course) and start scrubbing down those shelves.

Clean out any food materials that have accumulated in the bottom of your oven before cleaning the oven racks with a sturdy Oven Rack Brush. Once you’ve thoroughly cleaned your oven and it sparkles to your satisfaction, place a Non-Stick Oven Liner on the bottom to keep it clean until your next thorough cleaning. To clean the top of your stovetop, use a Cooktop Cleaning Kit that has a burnt-on grease remover formulated for really tough baked-on messes, a cooktop cleaner that removes discoloration caused by burned foods, minerals and residues, a scraper and a no-scratch cleaning pad that’s safe to use on smooth-top ranges of glass, ceramic or porcelain. Take down your exhaust vents and clean them thoroughly.

To clean and sharpen your garbage disposal, pull out a Garbage Disposal Brush that provides maximum scraping action to clean out any caked on gunk. After it’s clean, put chunks of ice in your disposal and turn it on to sharpen the blades. Then, add a lemon or lime to freshen it up.

Wash down your walls, ceiling, windows and all light fixtures in the kitchen. Use a Telescoping Cleaning Kit that includes 16″ duster, cobweb duster, long, bendable duster, squeegee/sponge with sponge cover, microfiber flat duster, ceiling fan duster, standard bulb changer, and floodlight-bulb changer and you can have most of your hard-to-reach chores done with one, inexpensive cleaning kit.

Clean your countertops, stovetops and even your floors with a Multi-Purpose Steam Cleaner that heats ordinary water over 200-degrees and has a large 48-oz. water capacity canister that provides up to 1 hour of continuous steam to power away grease, dirt, and more. Once your countertops sparkle, you can easily revive your dingy grout lines with a Grout Aide™ Marker that dries rapidly and leaves a clean, uniform grout line without any obnoxious fumes.

You probably have some dishes, glasses or even fine china that don’t get used very often so now would be a good time to clean them. Get a Sommelier’s Washing Kit that includes a decanter brush that reaches all interior sides, plus a goblet brush and flute brush that can also be used for vases. These cleaning brushes feature reinforced foam bristles that will not chip or scratch valuable crystal or glassware. Sell or donate any unused, unwanted or unmatched dishes.

If you’re like me, you have a whole shelf of recipes…cookbooks that you’ve bought because the pictures are pretty and “someday that would be a great recipe to make.” Now is the time to de-clutter your recipes and donate or sell any cookbooks that you no longer need. There’s no reason to store an entire magazine just for a couple of good recipes. Find a handheld Portable Scanner, roll it over the pages and download it to your computer. Not only will you have all your recipes in one place, but you’ll have a clutter-free recipe shelf as well.

When organizing your pantry, organize it by baking goods, cooking foods, snack foods and overstock items. For example, put all your baking goods such as flour, sugar and meal together on one shelf and place your cooking goods like beans, soup, and cooking oils together on another shelf. You can keep your food fresh from moths by placing some Pantry Moth Traps, which protect your food from grain moths, flour moths, meal moths and seed moths, on your shelf. If you don’t want the little ones to help themselves to some snacks, place the snacks and cereals on a higher shelf and cooking foods on the lower shelves. Overstock items such as pallets of water, large bottles of salad dressing, sodas, etc can be placed on the lower shelves as well.

Scrub down your dining room chairs and tables and clean all knickknacks and pictures. If your dining chairs are looking tired, you can update them with some new Chair Cushions that are available in a variety of sizes, styles and colors.

If your picture frames or knickknacks have small scratches, but are made of unique colors, blend multiple markers on the scratch to match your color. Change out any wintery pictures that you may have displayed and replace them with vibrant color graphics.

After cleaning your floors thoroughly, you should fix any scratches or defects that may have accumulated during the harsh winter months.

If you have window coverings, pull down any curtains and either wash them or send them off to be cleaned. Clean your windows, both inside and out, and don’t forget the screens.

If you have any tips on how to clean a kitchen or if you have created your own spring cleaning checklist, let us know by sharing it in the comments section below.

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